Government : In the Statehouse: How money from gas tax increase will be spent

Today, please hug your friends and family members close and tell them you love them dearly…yes, even if you’re mad at each other. After the tragedies happening at home, what happened in the Statehouse last week seems unimportant and it is definitely not as important as your families and personal relationships. (I should pin that to my forehead and live it.) But reporting what I’m doing is my duty, so here we go…

We debated school funding again. As I reported earlier, the Revenue Estimating Conference’s December estimate said we should have $160 million more ongoing revenue coming in to spread between all of the state’s priorities and actually, some people believe that number will go down with the March estimate. Our two biggest dollar priorities are Education and Human Services. Over a month ago, the House sent a bill to the Senate giving each student an $80 raise for the year, bringing them from $6366 to $6446 per child. This amounted to a 1.25% raise. We also sent a bill for categorical spending in the same percentage and honored our teacher leadership program promises with $50 million more. These three bills gave close to $100 million of the $160 million to Kindergarten through 12th grade. That was the maximum we could do considering the human services needs we are anticipating because of reduced federal funding.

House Republicans are more ‘good policy’ oriented than political game players and we get caught in this frequently. Here’s what I mean by that. We put our best foot forward immediately to let schools know what we could do, 1.25%. The School Board Association comes back with them wanting 6%. Some teacher’s unions are coming back with 15%. The Senate comes back with a 4%. We don’t have 4%. The Speaker and Majority Leader assigned themselves to the conference committee (the negotiating team when there’s an impasse) and are going to require the collective bargaining chapter be opened up for some changes.

And then there was the fuel tax vote. I voted for it and here are some of the facts that firmed up my decision:

1. The fuel tax can only be spent on roads and bridges, nothing else.

2. The increase will be 10 cents a gallon for regular gas, 8 cents for ethanol blends and 7 cents for biodiesel. The increase will raise $215 million.

3. It has been 26 years since the last increase and we are $220 million a year short for maintenance.

4. Local Governments have started borrowing money to fix their roads because we haven’t raised the money coming to them to fix roads. Over $1.1 billion dollars has been borrowed so far. 39% of cities and 29% of counties now have debt for road projects that the property tax payer is on the hook for.

5. Unlike other options, out of state drivers will contribute about $45 million dollars or 20% of the increase.

6. Road Use Tax Fund (RUTF) is made up of fuel taxes, new vehicle registration fees, annual vehicle registration fees and is Constitutionally protected.

7. The distribution of the RUTF is 47.5% to state highways, 24.5% to county roads, 20% to city streets and 8% for farm-to-market county roads.

8. Iowa’s road system has over 114,000 miles of highways, roads and streets and 25,000 bridges.

9. Iowa is ranked 48th in deficient bridge condition.

10. Iowa is ranked 38th in rural interstate condition and 46th in rural arterial condition.

11. Iowa is ranked 37th in urban interstate condition.

12. At an average of 20,000 miles/year, 25 mpg, a 10 cent increase will cost the Iowa driver $7 each month.

13. Benton County has 57 structurally deficient bridges. 25 are open, 31 are posted and 1 is closed. Iowa County has 52 structurally deficient bridges with 8 open, 39 posted and 5 closed. The state has 4,728 bridges that are structurally deficient. 1651 are open, 2819 are posted and 258 are closed.

14. Benton County is estimated to receive about $975,000 more a year and our cities $310,678 more. Our current RUTF is $3,700,000.

15. Iowa County is estimated to receive almost $740,000 more a year and our cities $175,000 more. Our current RUTF is $2,740,375.

16. The legislation requires the DOT to find $20 million in efficiencies to transfer to RUTF. They have already reduced by $50 million.

17. The legislation requires the DOT to report to the Legislature every 5 years on the status of projects vs. funding. I heard concerns about electric cars not paying their fair share. Currently we have less than 400 electric cars registered in Iowa. After 5 years, if that number is significantly higher, something may need to be done.

18. The legislation also raises fees for excessive size and weight permits.

Thank you to all of the people who contacted me with their support of or concerns with the increase. Your feedback combined with the above facts helped me make a good and responsible decision. I appreciate your help. If you need anything, please let me know. Even with my assistant helping, my inbox is a little out of control, so if I don’t answer within a few days, remind me please. You can reach me at 515-281-6879 or dawn.pettengill@legis.iowa.gov.

Have a good week and be good to each other!